I did not hate this movie, however, the reception it has received? Thats a different story...

Rating: 5/10 (6 August 2013)

First of all, I'd like to clarify: Did I think this was a good movie? Yes. But did I think this was a groundbreaking masterpiece? Hell no.
There is very little to be said about this movie, I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to get when I walked into the cinema and I got almost exactly what I expected. Therefore, I cannot say this movie was bad when I knew what I was getting into. However, I am puzzled by people's response to this movie. Majority of the reviews I seen for this film, more or less, follow the lines of "Robots+Monsters=BADASS!!!" and while agree with that statement to an extent, I have to play Devil's advocate here and raise the point, that while giant robots and monsters are badass, those factors do not necessarily make a great movie.
My criticisms of the movie:
1. Very little character development: while we're given brief back stories to our main protagonists, they are so brief it feels like the film is just trying to get them out of the way for more action. Some characters are given no development at all. Come to think of it, we never find out why Robert Kazinsky is so cranky in this movie.
2. You already know the main plot just from watching the trailer: big robots seek to destroy monsters, robots win, monsters lose. End. I actually found the subplot involving the scientist trying to hook his brain to the monsters more interesting than this.
3. Not enough Ron Perlman: I'm sure another online critique said something very similar, but anyway, I agree.
4. Too long: for a film with such a simple plot, it runs too long. While I was not going "Come on! When will this movie end already?!" I did find myself checking my watch now and again.
And its these 4 factors, in my opinion, that make this film over-hyped. Like I said, its not bad, but a 7.7 rating is being FAR too generous. All because a movie has giant robots and monsters, doesn't necessarily make it a great film.

Stephen